Federal Court Rules Crypto Tokens on Kraken Are Not Securities, Marking Major Victory for the Crypto Industry

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A Court in California ruled that none of the trading assets on the Krane crypto exchange are securities. This court ruling injected a huge level of confidence among all the American crypto exchanges which are providing crypto trading services.

SEC Vs Kraken

The main conflict between Kraken & the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started Q4 2023. 

On Nov 20, 2023, the SEC body filed a lawsuit against the Kraken crypto exchange, accusing it of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency.

The SEC’s complaint argued that Kraken mishandled customer information, commingled customer assets with its own, and offered several crypto tokens as securities without proper registration. Among the tokens identified by the SEC as securities were Cardano’s ADA, Cosmos’s ATOM, Filecoin’s FIL, Solana’s SOL, and Near Network’s NEAR, along with six other tokens. This legal action set the stage for a significant battle over the classification and regulation of crypto assets in the United States.

Court ruling against SEC’s allegations 

In the latest court ruling, Judge Orrick sided with Kraken in a significant case brought by the SEC body. The SEC had alleged that multiple tokens offered by Kraken exchange, including Cardano (ADA(, Cosmos (ATOM), Filecoin (FIL), Solana (SOL), and Near Network (NEAR), among others, were securities. Central to the SEC’s argument was the application of the Howey test, a standard derived from a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case, which determines if an asset qualifies as an investment contract and thus a security.

Judge Orrick found that the SEC’s attempt to assert regulatory authority over these crypto tokens as securities was not justified. He asserted that, while cryptocurrency is a novel financial instrument, the SEC’s approach did not align with the principles established by the Howey test. 

The judge’s ruling favoured Kraken’s argument that the SEC was overreaching its congressionally-approved authority, marking a notable victory for the crypto industry.

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